Chapter 5

Good-bye and Hello

Vincent walked into the cave behind the waterfall and paused. He looked around until his eyes came to rest on the huddled form upon the alter.
"Vincent?"

Vincent walked over to the huddled form. "Lucricia…"
"Vincent…Please make it stop…" She whimpered. "I-I c-can't live, and it won't let me die…please let me die?"

"Anything for you, Lucricia. What must I do?"

"Jenova…remove Jenova."

Vincent felt his demons rise inside him, kneeling he held Lucricia close. Lowering his head, he nuzzled her neck, the transformation began, and he bit deep into the soft flesh of her neck. He felt Jenova drain out of his love at the same time that he felt her life slip away.

"V-v-vincent…I love you-"

Tears flowed down his cheeks as the last of her life slipped away. Vincent suddenly was hit with wave after wave of pain, pain that caused him to convulse before he fell unconscious.

Tifa had a restless night, tossing and turning. Her thoughts were on the files. She didn't know whether or not she regretted reading those files are not. She did understand Vincent a lot better, like why he was so withdrawn and disliked human contact. Deciding that she was not going to be able to get back to sleep, Tifa slowly got out of bed. Grabbing some clean cloths, she headed for the shower. Today she would be catching a boat to Costa del Sol, and from there she would continue her search for the source of the unusual monster activity. Tifa stepped into the shower and let her thoughts drift as the warm water ran down her body.

Dried, dressed and refreshed, Tifa grabbed her bag and headed out the door. The files had been safely stored in another bag that was in Hindis stall. Throwing the room keys onto the counter as she passed by, Tifa headed out the door and to the stable. The boat would be leaving soon and she didn't want to miss it. The next boat would be several hours later.

Hindi warked happily at Tifa before returning to munching on her greens and Tifa quickly prepared the rest of her stuff before dragging the reluctant bird out the door. There was a little trouble trying to get the chocobo onto the boat. If it was one thing Hindi did not like, it was boats. After some hassle, she was nicely packed into a cozy stall. Tifa headed above deck to enjoy the view. It wasn't long before the boat was under way. Tifa loved the open waters, despite growing up in the mountains. The weather held up wonderfully, and only improved as they neared their destination.

Getting Hindi off the boat was a whole lot easier then it had been to get her on, and it took little time for Tifa and her bird to be on their way.
Tifa decided to first head toward Corel and see what she found there, and what any of the locals had seen or heard. Lost in thought, Tifa didn't notice the tension in Hindi as they traveled until the blue bird suddenly bolted at top speed. Startled, Tifa managed to regain her balance before she looked to see what had startled her companion. She regretted looking behind her.
'That is a really big snake.' Tifa thought as the giant cobra like snake slowly gained on them. Tifa quickly checked her material before slowing, and turning Hindi around to face the oncoming reptile.
The snake reared and lunged catching Tifa by surprise. She was knocked of her chocobo. Instinctively she curled and rolled. Hindi was goon with small monsters, but the snake was too much, she bolted. Tifa leapt up and cast firaggra followed by thundagga. The snake reeled back at the two blasts. The snake reared again, hissing angrily. Suddenly it struck out with its tail. Tifa dodged out of the way and cast slow and haste. Immediately everything changed. The snake moved in super slow motion, posing to strike. Tifa summoned Shiva.

Breathing heavely, Tifa walked away from the frozen carcass of the reptile. Hindi was nowhere to be seen, so Tifa continued to walk towards Corel. She was about a day's walk away. Camping under the open sky, her gear was gone with here chocobo, Tifa shivered. This was not the warmest place on the planet, but thankfully it was not the coldest. She reached Corel the next evening, cold, hungry, and tired. Tifa asked around for Barrets house and was disappointed to learn that he had gone on a trip to Neo-Midgar two day's earlier.

"Scuse me miss? But weren't you one of the people who helped get rid of the ShinRa?"

"Ummm, yes." Tifa replied.

"You can stay at my place if you need somewhere to stay. I am Chad."

"Tifa Lockheart, and thank you."

"No problem, by the way, do you know Gus from Fort Condor?"

"Yes actually, I am looking into something for him." Tifa replied.

"The monsters?"
"Yes actually, why do you ask?"

"I am look out for monsters in this area, and I enter what I see into the computer."

"Well, looks like we'll have lots to talk about."

They spent the night talking and thinking up reasons for the monster activities. Tifa slept in late the next morning, the walk the previous day had really warn her out. When Tifa woke, it was late morning and people were screaming!